REDUNDANT oil rigs could be used as floating prisons if overcrowding
in Scottish jails gets out of hand, it has emerged.
The Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill, which completed its
Commons stages in the early hours of yesterday morning, has opened up
the possibility, and officials have refused to deny it could happen.
Though they insisted there were no formal proposals for floating
prisons, they admitted that it could be a contingency measure in case of
pressure on accommodation and one Government spokesman said: ''No-one is
ruling this out.''
Labour's Front Bench spokesman on Scottish Affairs, Mr John McFall,
believes it is an option the Government may seriously consider.
He pointed out yesterday that there already was overcrowding in the
Scottish prison system -- Greenock, 52% above capacity; Edinburgh
Saughton, 36% above; Friarton, 32% above; Inverness, 28% above and
Barlinnie, 27% above.
He added: ''Something has to be done about the prison service and the
Government's fixation with privatisation could lead it towards new
prisons under the charge of the private sector and floating prisons
being a possibility.''
Oil industry experts pointed out that old platforms could be
technically suitable, since they usually were still safe and seaworthy,
but the idea has shocked other observers.
Ms Sue Irving, Aberdeen-based development officer for the Scottish
Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, said: ''Even
with the extra security these rigs would obviously offer, I can think of
no situation in which they would be tolerated.
''Families are put under enough pressure if someone they love is
placed in Peterhead, never mind stuck out of reach on an oil rig.
''This would be a massive backward step.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article